TODAY IN HISTORY / January 23

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2013. There are 342 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War, and would be formally signed four days later in Paris.

On this date:

In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.

In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called "Lame Duck Amendment," was ratified as Missouri approved it.

In 1937, 17 people went on trial in Moscow during Josef Stalin's "Great Purge." (All were convicted of conspiracy; all but four were executed.)

In 1943, critic Alexander Woollcott suffered a fatal heart attack during a live broadcast of the CBS radio program "People's Platform."

In 1950, the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution affirming Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In 1960, the U.S. Navy-operated bathyscaphe Trieste carried two men to the deepest known point in the Pacific Ocean, reaching a depth of more than 35,000 feet.

In 1964, the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified.

In 1968, North Korea seized the Navy intelligence ship USS Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released 11 months later.)

In 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC.

In 1985, debate in Britain's House of Lords was carried on live television for the first time.

Ten years ago: The government of Kuwait said a Kuwaiti had confessed to the shootings of two U.S. defense workers that left one dead. (The assailant, Sami al-Mutairi, was convicted and sentenced to death, but an appeals court commuted the sentence to life in prison.)

Five years ago: Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from Gaza after Palestinian militants used land mines to breach a barrier dividing the border town of Rafah.